


We are

by gretaquhc



Category: Wanna One (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Behind the Scenes, F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Hard way to success, M/M, Makeup and Clothes and more, Music, Romance, Uses Korean and Japanese words sometimes, girlgroup
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-02-16 13:08:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 5,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18692104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gretaquhc/pseuds/gretaquhc
Summary: "Dammit!" Stefi shook her head. "You know, they just moved out of their dorm to get away from Saesangs. You could have been snatched by security!""We were" I said."But the one guy was really nice," added Sian.April 2018: Five girls are chosen for a debut. Struggling with the music industry's competition and their own little secrets, life is not as rosy as they wished for. But help comes from unexpected directions, as they find some very nice seniors with BTS and WannaOne. Then love joins the game, and the chaos becomes even greater ...





	1. Part 1: Pre-Debut

Hello!

I'm still not too experienced in writing in English, so feel free to point out mistakes and weird sentence structures.

I wrote this one for fun and hence might bend reality sometimes =)

Produce X 101 starts today, so this is somehow for those who miss WannaOne a bit. BTS joins later, since I couldn't bend reality to the extent, that girls can casually meet and interact with them before their debut ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Enjoy!

gretaquhc


	2. Plans

In his office on the 10th floor with a view of the offices in the building next to this one, Kim NamHyung, CEO of Behind The Scenes Entertainment, sat at his desk. Right next to him stood Jo JinYoung, his employee. They both bent over a set of photos on the desk, of which three had been neatly arranged in front of them. Jo JinYoung took a forth one and laid it next to the other three selected.

“So she subscribed?” asked Kim NamHyung contentedly. Jo JinYoung nodded. “She did. Yet … well …”

“You think the combination is not a good idea.”

Jo JinYoung remained silent, but Kim NamHyung didn’t bother. “I did at least think so and this is why I want a catalyst for the group.”

“A catalyst?”

Without any reluctance, Kim NamHyung took a fifth photo out of the others on the table. “We will add _her_ to the group.”

Jo JinYoung tried to hide his confusion – unsuccessfully. “This girl?”

“Exactly.” Kim NamHyung smiled. “This will be quite interesting. Don’t you think so, too?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! =)  
> This chapter is just some kind of foreshadowing. The real story starts now, so look into the next chapter, too~


	3. Meeting at the elevator

It started raining again as I was just a few meters away from the entrance. I sprinted, did not see the great puddle and stepped right into it, but at least I was safe a few seconds later.

Breathing heavily, I went over to the elevator, where a young man was already waiting. Unlike me, he was dry, and as we both entered the elevator, he looked at my muddy sneakers.

I remembered that I was in a quite noble building with fancy apartments and that he was most probably the son of a rich family and had never seen muddy sneakers in his whole life.

“It was raining,” I explained tersely.

“Yes,” he said. “They said so on the news.”

“Well, I did not listen to the news over the last few days,” I replied, fearing that he could think I was dumb. “I had training.” And as he did not react, I added: “Dancing.”

Now he looked at me. Underneath his cap was a quite handsome face. Soft lips, a straight nose and three moles in the shape of a triangle on the left cheek. “Dancing,” he repeated. He seemed amused, so he probably did not believe me. “Yes.” I paused. “I can do the wave now. With my arms. See?”

This was not everything I had been practicing, but the only thing, that worked in an elevator. He smiled. “Very good.”

His words still sounded amused. I wanted to ask him, if he could do anything like that, but the elevator reached the fifth floor and I had to get out.

I recalled my manners in the last second. “It was nice to meet you, neighbour.”

I saw his smile through the closing door and then he was gone.

 

Loud music greeted me, as I entered the flat. 

“There you are,” said Risa who was on her way from the bedroom to the bathroom on the other side of the eat-in kitchen. “You were suddenly gone and no one knew where you went off to.”

“I told Sian,” I mumbled, not sure if Sian had even heard me, and distracted by the imprint on Risa’s pink T-shirt. Yet, wearing a weird T-shirt over black leggings, her light brown hair bundled up in a messy bun, Risa still had an aura of overflowing charisma, which was quite intimidating.

“Ru Pauls’ Drag Race,” explained Risa noticing my look. “You know it?”

I shook my head and somehow was not sure if she was mad about me disappearing without a word. So I hastily said: “I was outside at the next _konbini_ …” 

“The _what_?”

Ah … I shrugged. And then shouted: “SIAN!”

“WHAAAT?” She appeared at the bedroom door. Her shoulder-length hair was dishevelled and her cheeks were red from carrying boxes from room to room. To make her happy, I took the packs of Ramyeon out of my bag and held them up. “What is _konbini_ in Korean?”

“Convenience store?”

“Ah,” said Risa.

“I will be our cook for today,” I said hastily. “I finished unpacking, so I have time.”

I had not been a trainee for a long time, so my belongings were few and I had finished early. We did not have much room anyway, _Behind The Scenes_ had rent us a quite small apartment.

“ _Ii desu yow_ ,” said Sian with a rapper gesture and vanished back into the bedroom. She often practiced Japanese with me and loved to make it sound funny. _Ikimashouw_. _Ii desu yow_.

Risa frowned and then said: “I think that was an agreement. The kitchen is yours.”

I grinned, thanked her – for what reason ever – and rushed over to the kitchen.

 

I was in deep thought while stirring the noodles. After all, I couldn’t believe that I was right here and not some ordinary school girl in Japan. On the other hand, I had been a trainee for a very short time and just could not be good enough. I had seen Sian and the others dancing and I was no match for them. Would that be a problem? Could I keep up, if I worked harder than the others?

I turned around in order to set the table, but Risa was just about to put the last glass on the table and everything else was ready. How long had she been here?

“Thank you,” I stuttered.

“No problem.” She smiled. “I needed to do something that was not unpacking.”

At this very moment, it suddenly got louder.

“It was a bad idea,” said a strong voice. “We shouldn’t have put all the heavy things on one side.”

“I did not know beforehand, that you and Minjeong owned dozens of these oversize pullovers!”

“Isn’t the size of the room the real problem then?”

The last, deeper voice belonged to Minjeong, the girl I knew the least about. She had just appeared on the day we were selected for the group. No one had ever trained with her or even seen her. And since she was the calm type, we still didn’t know why she was with us.

The three girls arrived at the table and Sian told Risa resignedly: “The clothes rail broke and the floor is full of clothing.”

Risa and I both made a face. We had no space for a cupboard, so we had stuffed all our clothes on a clothes rail in the bedroom. And as it seemed, the clothes rail had not liked it.

“And if we stuff everything back into our suitcases and put them under the bed?” I suggested.

“Since we have bunk beds, there must be two suitcases under one bed.” Sian shook her head. “Impossible.”

Sighing deeply, Stefi sat down. “They really could have given us a somewhat bigger flat.”

“If they do, they would have to spend more money,” replied Minjeong dryly und sat down either.

“They have _so much_ money,” said Stefi in a huff. “ _Milkshake_ is such a big cash cow. Like, really big. They could pay a bigger apartment for sure.”

“But _we_ are no cash cows,” said Risa. “And so they won’t and it doesn’t help to complain all day. Kei has brought food. Hungry, anyone?”

“Woah,” said Sian and grinned. “Leader-nim has spoken.”

“Leader-nim won’t give you Ramyeon, if you are not nice to Leader-nim.”

Sian’s jaw dropped. “Why?” She cleared her throat. “I mean – no, Risa _-unnie_ , would you give me food?”

“Sounds better.”

Stefi leaned over to Minjeong. “Queen Risa has spoken.”

“Yes, she has,” said Risa and spared Minjeong an answer. Stefi grinned and then we could finally start to eat.


	4. Dance Lessons

Several days later, I found myself in front of our make-up artist, Manager-nim and a list of hair colours for our debut. I had been looking forward to this day and now that I saw the proposals, I was quite disappointed.

“We decided to stay with your natural hair colour as much as possible,” said our make-up artist, Cho Sarang. “So we can go with the classic beauty type in your case.”

I would have agreed, if I would have felt like a classic beauty. But seriously, I was not classic at all. “Ok,” I said. “Then, I would stay with black.”

There were several tones of dark brown, but they were even duller than black.

Sarang-ssi nodded. “My choice, too,” she smiled. At least, she seemed to like me.

“Since that is decided,” said Manager-nim, “you should start thinking about your character.”

“Hm?”

“Yes. Like, who do you want to be on stage and in front of the camera? The mood maker? The food-lover?”

It was not like I didn’t know that this question would be coming. I knew how the idol world worked. I had even thought about it, when I had started training. But I have never found an answer, except for one sure thing. I slowly said: “Well … I would like to be me.”

It was hard enough to be me on stage. But Manager-nim did not seem to approve.

“Ah,” he said. And paused. “Well, this is – of course – impossible.”

And I just nodded and looked down on the table.

 

“Don’t be disappointed,” said Minjeong later, when we sat in the car. “I would have loved to keep my hair black, but they did not even offer this option.” She seemed angry about it.

“Yeah, but now, everyone has bright hair except me, I suppose?” I replied uncomfortably. In contrast to what I should wish for, I was afraid of standing out too much. I had the least experience in dancing and singing and I did not want to spoil the show, because everyone awaited great things from the ‘classic beauty’.

“Don’t worry, Keicchi,” said Stefi. “My hair will be dark brown, that won’t make a big difference.” She smiled at me and I smiled back. Stefi excelled in dancing and singing, so this really lifted my spirits. I looked around and tried to imagine the others with their new hair colour. Risa would be blonde and Sian reddish, as far as I heard them say. I didn’t know about Minjeong’s hair colour – just that it was not black.

Before I could figure out, if I should just ask her or if I should better not talk about things, which made her angry, we arrived at _Behind The Scenes_ for our dance lesson.

Our teacher was already there, a man in his thirties with sharp eyes and the habit of wearing sweatpants in very bright colours. Today, these pants were banana yellow and probably visible within a few kilometres. In contrast to his bright pants, he was not bright at all. There were times when I was seriously afraid of him.

“You learned the choreography at home?” he asked after the greeting and we nodded. He had given us a video to learn the movements and our positions, but since we had not enough space at home, we had practiced mostly individually in our free time at home. We all remembered the steps, but didn’t know if they would work together. Most likely, Trainer Noh didn’t know that and so he nodded. “Show me.”

We got into our positions and he started the song. Within the first tones, I was relieved to remember all the steps without a problem. Still, there was a lot going on in my head, while dancing. The song was not bad at all. Also, it was not the cutesy-type, so we would not get in the way of our great sunbaes _Milkshake_.

“Thank god,” Sian had said, after Manager-nim had shown us the song. “It’s not cute. I was so afraid that it would be cute!” 

“Yes, it is ordinary girl’s crush instead,” Minjeong had said. “Crawling on the floor and shaking asses. Why can’t girls do something else instead of being overly cute or shaking asses? This is so unfair.”

“Don’t look at it like this,” Stefi had replied. “The choreo is actually quite nice. Apart from that … ass shaking in the rap part.”

“Which means that you don’t even have to do it,” Sian had said.

And Minjeong had just shaken her head.

Afterwards, Sian and I had taken a walk through the streets.

“This is not good,” Sian had said. “If we are not satisfied with our debut song, then who should be? I don’t understand what Minjeong wants.”

I had not been able to answer this.

“I’m afraid, too,” I had confessed instead. “I’m not really girl’s crush material.”

“You are. If not, they wouldn’t have chosen you for the group.”

Those words were still in my head and so I went through the choreography with only a few minor mistakes. Sian was right. We had to make the debut strong – which was not possible, if we were not determined that it could be the best of all debuts this year.

But keeping this determination would have been much simpler, if Trainer Noh wouldn’t look at us as if he was deeply disappointed. He shook his head.

“Not like that. Do it again. Kei.” I jerked. “Your walk should look seductive. Or at least elegant. Think about, what your lines are in that part.”

_Love is a sweet lie_.

Yeah, ok. A sweet lie.

But I had no talent for sweet lies. I was bad at lying. We repeated the song over and over, but Trainer Noh was never contended. And it wasn’t just with me.

“Sian, move your hands properly. This is not I-am-shaking-my-hands-dry-after-washing.”

“Yes.”

It was obvious, that Sian was angry. But not with Trainer Noh – with herself. After the second time she was criticized for the same thing, she swore something scarcely audible, but she clenched her teeth and tried to do better. I admired her for her fighting spirit, because I was drenched in sweat and felt like giving up all these damn sweet lies. But if Sian went on without crying, I would, too.

And then, there was Stefi. She was the only one, who did not have to deal with sharp remarks and blended perfectly with our movements.

Sian had once – when she had been a trainee and I was not – told me, how good Stefi was. And I wondered, why she had not debuted a long time ago.

We had been together now for some time and still I didn’t know much about these girls.

“Kei, make your steps bigger. Look at how the rest is doing.”

“Yes!”

I would be better, I swore to myself. I would be so much better.

 

After the official lesson, we stayed and practiced further. But Manager-nim urged us to get ready for the next appointment – something about clothes – and so we had to stop. In the end, Risa took a video with her mobile phone, so that we could do a review at home. 

Then, we left the training room.

There were a lot of weird, loud noises in the staircase, when we were going down to the exit.

One after another, we tried to get a glance at the cellar, but there were only a few people in black and for a short moment a bit of long, blonde hair.

“That must be _Milkshake_ ,” whispered Stefi, as she looked down over the railing. We others looked at each other in puzzlement. _Milkshake_. With men in black clothing. In the cellar. Ok?

“They are taking the back entrance,” explained Stefi softly. “Since the main entrance is often watched by fans and stalkers. They are waiting in the streets and shops nearby, I once saw it.” 

“Wow,” said astonished Sian.

“Ridiculous,” whispered Minjeong.

Stefi turned around to her: “You bet, it was.”

So, this would happen, if we would be on an equal level as _Milkshake_? We wouldn’t even be able to enter our own Entertainment?

This was too much to imagine. I took a last glance downwards and then went after the others.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter after a long time. Yay!  
> It's a good date again, BTS is in Wembley tomorrow, WannaOne's Undivided album will be one year old soon ... And NCT is coming to Europe!! I had lost all hopes already O_____O
> 
> I have so many ideas for the story, I want to get to MAMAs 2018 soon ... but things need to happen before, so I need to be patient >o<


	5. Dealing with chocolate

As we were five girls with not much space, there were days when we were quite riled. But since most of us were not the types to cry and scream in such situations, we had to deal with it in another way – sweets.

Manager-nim was devastated regularly, since we were all supposed to eat healthily and make a diet, in order to not gain weight before our debut. But _he_ was a man, who had a single apartment on the first floor, so he didn’t know what he was talking about. Seriously.

A few days after the lessons, it was a rainy evening and Sian and I were the ones to go to the convenience store. We had a chocolate-duty for those matters, which changed daily.

“I would like to buy ice cream,” said Sian.

“I think Stefi and Risa are not good with ice cream.”

“I know. Just dreaming.”

Then, the elevator arrived and the door opened. And there was the rich guy from our moving-in-day. He was with a friend (who saw us and cringed) and with a tall man in black. Like, his own bodyguard.

“It’s ok, it’s ok,” said rich guy hastily, while his friend was staring at us.

Ok, we had as good as no make-up on and I wore an oversized pullover and Sian her beloved green and blue cardigan, and her freshly died auburn hair was still getting used to its colour … but overall, we did not look scary. Not fancy enough for this building, but not scary.

“It’s ok! It’s that wave-girl I’ve told you about.”

Sian looked at me, her eyes asking: “ _Wave-girl_?”

“I’ll explain later,” I murmured, took her arm and pulled her with me into the elevator, before the doors closed again.

The other guy not in black instantly relaxed and smiled. "Ah, the wave-girl. Nice to meet you."

His eye smile was even more healing than Stefi’s – and that was a miracle to me. He made a quite innocent, boyish impression, stressed by a very weird hair colour under his cap. I felt Sian still gazing at me and tried to look anywhere but at her.

“Where are you off to? Dance classes?” asked rich guy amusedly as last time.

“Convenience store,” I answered. “Buying chocolate.”

The boys looked at each other. “There is a convenience store nearby?”

“Around the next corner,” answered Sian perplexedly. “You didn’t know?”

“Rich people surely don’t buy things at a _konbini_ that often,” I said and used the Japanese word again. Rich guy grinned. I expected him to make a comment about my vocabulary, but he just repeated: “Rich people.”

“Well, we _are_ rich, I guess,” said his friend.

They grinned at each other and again I felt like they were silently laughing at me. At least, the man in black kept a straight face.

I pouted and at that moment, the elevator stopped and we had to get off.

“Have a nice day,” I said.

“The floor above yours, door on the right,” said rich guy. “Bring the rich people some chocolate from the convenience store!”

“Eh?” I unintentionally asked back, but the doors had already closed. I shook my head. “He’s quite rude, isn’t he? I feel like doing, what he said, just to see his face.”

“I’m in,” said Sian. “If you tell me, what he meant with _wave-girl_.”

“Ah …” I told her about our meeting the other day. In the end, Sian nodded. “He must be studying at university or something.” She frowned. “Although I think, I’ve seen those faces somewhere, before.”

“Maybe, they are doing advertisements in their free time,” I joked. They both had the looks for it. Well, it didn’t matter. “Let’s get that chocolate, before the other three will eat themselves.”

 

The next day, _Behind The Scenes_ revealed Risa as the first member of Whistle. I had forgotten about it, to be honest, and remembered when I crossed the sofa on my way to the entrance.

On the sofa, Risa and Sian were lying, their legs entangled with each other's. Sian noticed me and smiled. "Did you look at it?"

“At what?”

“At our leader’s much aesthetic photo, of course? How can you not have looked at it?”

“Yes. Shame on you,” added Risa and I grinned. Over the weeks, I had gotten used to her dry humour and knew when she was not serious.

I came closer. “Show me!”

They had captured her quite well. Our photo theme had been ‘dystopia’, since Whistle should be the first tune of a revolution (“Which start?” Minjeong had said grimly. “We will most likely make the same music as every other girlgroup does.”). Risa’s hair – naturally brown back then – was carefully mussed and moved in a wind coming from the big fan which a poor staff member had been carrying around during the photo shoot.

Risa’s background was a photo wallpaper with a reddish moon in a stormy sky, adding some extra drama to her slightly dirty cheeks and her shirt with its left sleeve having been ripped of.

She looked mature and wild and very pretty, so all I said was: “Wow.”

And since that did not seem enough: “Leader- _sama_.”

“This,” said Risa contentedly, “I can understand without Sian or Stefi translating. Ah, you will surely be next, Stefi, don’t you think?”

I had not seen Stefi, who lay on the carpet next to the sofa and played on her smartphone. “Hm,” was all she said. It was hard to tell, if she did really not await her photo or if she was just too caught in the game. But she was the prettiest of us, so there was no way, she wouldn’t look forward to her photo, right?

“I’m looking forward to it,” I said.

“Hm.”

That game really had to be something.

Risa tried to get her legs free from Sian’s, but failed. “Where is Minjeong? And where do you want to go, by the way?”

She had noticed my bag. “Minjeong is in the bedroom, reading something on her mobile,” I said obediently. “And I will go upstairs and bring some chocolate to a rich student.” I looked at Sian. “Would you go with me?”

“Why?”

“Because I need someone to translate, if I stutter Japanese stuff. Again.”

“Take Stefi.”

“I’m busy. Who is that rich student, anyway?”

Sian’s and my gaze met. “See?” I asked.

She sighed and got up. “Ok. I will be the translator. But you owe me ice creams for the service.”

“ _Haaaaai_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I planned to update more often, but somehow it's been weeks again. D=  
> Anyway! I'm getting there! There's some preparations to be done, but then Whistle can finally debut and the story will be smoother. And focus more on the others, too. I'm looking forward to that ~


	6. Dealing with security

“Will the bodyguard be there again?” asked Sian, as we entered the elevator. I squeaked. I had forgotten about the man in black. “Hopefully not.”

Well, I was wrong.

It started with the fact that I had expected this floor to be similar to ours – but no. We arrived at a short hallway which led to two doors – both guarded with one man in black respectively. This guy’s family had to be _very_ rich. As rich as in national-affairs-rich or something? In what kind of building had _Behind The Scenes_ made us live?

Then, the man on the left noticed us. He didn’t ask who we were. Or what we wanted. He came towards us, looking seriously intimidating down on us – which was not hard in my case, because I was not tall, but Sian was a quite slender, tall figure and he still managed to make her look like a little puppet.

I opened my mouth and searched for an explanation before he could grab us, but my Korean failed due to stress. Sian did it better. When Mr Bodyguard 01 stretched his hand out, she looked past him to Mr Bodyguard 02 and loudly said: “It’s us. From yesterday!”

It was the man who had been in the elevator with us. And he must have remembered us, because he had already stopped his colleague and now explained: “They are fine. Residents, no stalkers.”

Stalkers?

Poor rich guy, he seemed to live a hard life. No wonder, he couldn’t buy chocolate from the convenience store.

I opened my bag and showed the chocolate to both man.

“He asked me yesterday,” I explained and Mr Bodyguard 02 grinned. “You really did that?”

“Everyone needs chocolate,” I replied. “You can have one, too, Sir. If you don’t tell anybody.”

He shook his head and probably wanted to reply, but suddenly, there were loud noises from behind the right door. Someone shouted and another person laughed and then the door opened.

“Go and break another dryer!” Someone came through the door, laughing really hard and still quick-witted enough, to dodge the cushion that flew after him. The cushion crossed the hallway and hit against the door on the left side.

“ _And get my cushion back_!”

I didn’t know that voice, but it sounded our age. Rich guy must have had friends over. With bodyguards.

The guy laughing his head off was rich guy’s friend from yesterday. I recognized the unmistakable shape of his eyes and his velvety low voice. So there was no mistake. He looked for the cushion and noticed us. He only needed a few seconds. “ _Oh_!”

And then he started laughing again.

Someone inside the apartment mumbled something.

“You didn’t!” said rich guy’s friend now and came closer. “Did you? You really did …” He grinned. “Seongwoo will be quite surprised.”

“He was most probably just joking,” replied Mr Bodyguard 02 amusedly.

“He was,” confirmed rich guy’s friend.

“It’s a nice present from your new neighbours,” said Sian politely. “I just don’t know if we bought enough for everyone …”

“If you want to buy enough for everyone, you should rent a truck.”

“Ok …?”

No one heard the door on the left side opening. I didn’t, either – I just looked up, as I noticed that someone stood there.

Another guy in his twenties. But in contrast to me, he really deserved the title of a classic beauty. And he was allowed to have auburn hair, by the way!

Quietly, he looked at this mess in the hallway, including a cushion on the floor, rich guy’s friend and two bodyguards chatting with Sian (how did she always manage to come up with small talk so easily?) and a guy with narrow eyes watching everything from the right door. Maybe, this one had thrown the cushion.

I looked back to the auburn guy on the left door and our eyes met. I smiled and shrugged and that made him smile, too.

“Hyung!” shouted the guy from the right and made everyone else be quiet. “ _Hyung_ , Niel and Seongwoo broke the dryer, can you lend us one?”

 _Hyung_ looked shocked. “What? _How_?”

“Don’t ask,” said Niel over his shoulder and grinned. “But we will need one.”

“See?”

And then, suddenly, Sian took my hand. “Come on. Time to go.”

We bowed to the Bodyguards and Niel and entered the elevator again, leaving a lot of people discussing and shouting and explaining things about dryers and chocolate. I would have loved to listen a few more minutes, but Sian’s hand grabbed mine fiercely. She pushed the button to our floor.

As the door was closed and it suddenly was unusually calm, Sian finally looked at me in astonishment. “I think, I know who they are.”

“What?”

But she shook her head and laughed nervously. “Let me confirm this, first. I will tell you back in the apartment.”

 

The apartment was filled with the smell of food and television noises. Risa stood in the kitchen and talked to us without looking. “Manager-nim has called. We will be picked up in an hour for a meeting. Food is ready in five minutes.”

She stir-fried whatever was in the pan.

“Roger,” said Sian and hastily pulled me over to Stefi, who now had claimed the sofa and was watching a television show on her phone. She looked up in astonishment, as we suddenly appeared next to her.

Without hesitating, Sian asked: “Can you show us something from WannaOne?”

No. Seriously, no. Sian couldn’t mean _that_.

Stefi blinked perplexedly, but nodded. “I will show you one of my favourite songs, ok?”

I looked at Sian and she looked back, her eyes saying “You will see”.

Stefi started a song called ‘Beautiful’ and turned around, so that we could all watch it together. In the first few seconds, there was only one person in a wildly patterned jacket. Then the person turned around – and I knew those eyes. “Oh.”

Sian nodded. “Rich guy’s friend.”

Stefi nearly dropped her phone. “ _What_?”

The song began and it didn’t take a long time. Niel’s velvety voice filled the room with a few lines, a door opened in the video and suddenly, there was …

“Rich guy,” I said with a feeble voice.

Probably automatically, Stefi corrected me: “Ong.”

“Hm?”

“He is called Ong. Ong Seongwoo.”

And he was no rich student. And I had tried to impress him by showing him the wave. Wow. Embarrassing.

While we had talked, the scene had changed, the chorus started and I pointed on the screen, nearly knocked the phone out of Stefi’s hands. “Who is that?”

“Who?”

“The one in the middle!”

“Hwang Minhyun?”

“Why?” asked Sian and I explained: “He was at the door.”

“No, that was not him. Here, the one in the yellow pullover. That one.”

She pointed at the guy with narrow eyes, a rapper as it seemed. I shook my head. “He was at the right door. And Hwang Minhyun-ssi was on the other side.”

“I didn’t notice him.”

I grinned in memory of that slightly dry smile he had, while watching the scenery in the hallway. Like a dad watching his children doing nonsense.

“Seriously,” said Stefi suddenly. “ _Seriously_! You went up to bring chocolate to WannaOne and _didn’t even know_!”

“Yes,” said Sian.

“Sorry,” said I.

“Dammit!” Stefi shook her head. “You know, they just moved out of their dorm to get away from Saesangs. You could have been snatched by security!”

“We were” I said.

“But the one guy was really nice,” added Sian.

The music stopped, as the video was over. Stefi shouted: “Risa!”

“What?” The voice was closer than expected. Risa had already put the pan of fried rice on the table. “They were not imprisoned, let’s be happy about it. And now, someone get Minjeong out of the bedroom. It’s time for lunch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the neighbourhood is official \o/  
> I had a lot of fun writing this, although while reading it again, it turned out quite chaotic. Now, there are a few more preparations for the debut and the first single will be released >u<
> 
> I actually wanted to upload this chapter on last friday, but I couldn't. So, belated congratulations to all new members of X1!! I hope, they'll be doing well!   
> I started this story few days before the first episode and now the season is already over. Wow o__o


	7. Meeting Milkshake

Another round of _Gossip_ and I would vomit for sure. I took a sip from my bottle of water and tried to calm my breath.

“Get back over here and start from the second verse!” said Trainer Noh and I breathed in and out a few last times.

We had been training since early in the morning. The schedule grew tighter in the coming days, which was because Trainer Noh didn’t consider us ready for the dance scenes in the MV. This afternoon, the training room was blocked, so Manager-nim had brought us here before dawn. My body was jelly, but after Manager-nim had told us about how difficult the schedule became with every day the filming was postponed, I tried to ignore that. I wanted to make a good debut.

The music started.

_You don’t want to believe everything you hear._

“Risa! Don’t just pretend to touch them! _Touch them_!”

And again.

When Risa passed me, I could see her hands shaking. But this time, her fingers must have touched Sians back properly, because Trainer Noh didn’t interrupt us again. Sian went on, her hands stroked my back and thigh and I went to my new position.

_Love is a sweet lie_.

No complaints? I was so irritated that I nearly forgot where to go next. But we also passed Sian’s and Minjeong’s rap part and went into the chorus without being interrupted. From that part on, my body somehow worked automatically. I switched between looking at the mirror (where I still was stiffer than anyone else) and Trainer Noh and just moved. Left. Right. On my knees. _Love is blind_.

Up. To the other side.

_Tell me_.

And then suddenly, Stefi’s last part.

In the mirror, I could see the others looking at Trainer Noh. And Trainer Noh smiled at someone at the door on the right side of the room.

Someone clapped.

Stefi was the first one to react. She got out of her position to greet Manager-nim and a pretty girl with blonde hair in a stylish blazer and jeans – who had both been watching since … since when?

We others greeted as well and tried to look not as exhausted as we were. Because that girl over there was not just any blonde girl, it was Park Seoyoung from _Milkshake_. 

I couldn’t say a word and just stare at her.

“They were quite good, weren’t they?” asked our _Sunbae-nim_ smiling brightly and looked at Manager-nim, who looked at Trainer Noh.

“They were,” said Trainer Noh (today in coral red, by the way, which had a weird contrast to _Sunbae-nim_ ’s stylish appearance). “It should be enough for the MV.”

“Trainer Noh is always so strict,” said _Sunbae-nim_ mildly. “You did well, don’t bother.”

“Thank you,” we said all at once, but not in unison and out of breath.

“And if you need any help, just ask. We will meet more often from now on, I hope.”

She said goodbye and maybe I was imagining things, but I felt like she looked at Stefi for a few seconds too long.

Trainer Noh clapped one time. “Girls, drink something and then go through the choreography one last time, please.”

Dazzled by Park Seoyoung’s radiance, we obeyed like sleepwalkers. I had never been to a _Milkshake_ concert, but her stage presence must be at another level. Everything about her was at another level. But as sleepwalkery and exhausted as I was and as much I thought about this short intermezzo – I couldn’t ignore that Stefi was unusually calm for the rest of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but it's fun to describe the choreography >u<
> 
> What might be up with Stefi, though?


End file.
